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With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. If growers, packers and shippers in Eastern Washington had a more efficient, cost effective way of getting their goods to foreign markets … it just makes sense, right?

The Northwest Seaport Alliance says the Port of Quincy gives shippers a much more convenient rail option …

PATRICK BOSS … “He can use his truck drivers more often. They could more turns per day and not have to sit there in traffic. So, you’re literally increasing efficiency. You’re reducing the amount of hours your drivers are sitting there in traffic jams somewhere. You keep your equipment moving. It brings down your costs. It’s more cost-effective, more competitive. It’s just a more efficient, more effective way to utilize your equipment as opposed to having trucks sitting over in Seattle or Tacoma somewhere waiting to be unloaded for hours.”

The Port’s Patrick Boss says just say the word …

PATRICK BOSS … “We’re ready to go in Quincy. We’re ready to go right now. We can help shippers immediately. It’s really a matter of getting train schedules to stop in Quincy. It’s a matter of working with transportation companies, etcetera, to ocean carriers to redirect freight to an inland location. It’s not impossible. It’s not insurmountable. It’s not even rocket science. It’s really just a matter of changing habits of freight shippers to go to inland locations like a Quincy.”

Boss says it’s a proposal at this point and there is no time-table, but it’s a no-brainer … bipartisan issue that lawmakers could easily get behind.